faisal al saud

Faisal was born in 1906 to the founder of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud, whose rise from desert chieftain to ruler of most of the Arabian Peninsula was greatly aided by British imperial machinations in the Middle East.

Taking the throne from his brother in the mid-1960s, Faisal carried out numerous reforms of the oil-rich kingdom, attempting to balance its very traditional and religiously ultra-conservative roots with the need to modernize its economy and infrastructure. With palace intrigues always brewing and a young and restive population, Faisal gained great prestige at home and abroad by his oft stated opposition to the State of Israel and generous financial support for the Palestinians. This culminated in Saudi Arabia leading an oil embargo targeting western countries, instituted in response to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

His assassination in 1975 instantly prompted speculation in Saudi Arabia and across the Muslim world that Faisal had been the target of an American and/or Israeli conspiracy.

recommended reading

Widely considered to be a literary fraud, penned by an Ottoman naval officer in an effort to malign the Saudi dynasty and their Wahhabi school of Islam as stooges of British imperial scheming, Confessions of a British Spy: British Enmity Against Islam, is a purported account by a certain Mr. Hempher of his efforts to sow divisions within the Ottoman Empire.

Whether or not one believes this book to be a true account, it is an expression of the tensions that really did exist between these empires in the 19th century.

Attribution for music used in this episode:

Assassinations Podcast Theme Music (Intro, Outro, and Transitions) written and performed by Graeme Ronald